Osd, fdc, xc70 rating

**AutoMonkey** · 04-08-2003, 12:02 PM

Good luck Ruby - you're going to have a great time. (I saw a ruby red XC70 on the road for the first time the other day, and whilst I'm not disappointed in my color choice, I think you, Kersti and the other ruby-redders made a good decision! )

My "marks out of 10" (to follow up on earlier comments in this thread):

Volvo travel: 9/10. Fast response and efficient for the most part. They lose a point for some last-minute confusion about whether I had confirmed plans or not - but once I called they sorted it out in a very timely manner.

FDC staff: 10/10. Despite being the first customers on a very busy day, hospitality was great and Leif spent a long time going over all the features of the car. The factory tour was awesome - we were initially going to skip it in order to get on the road, but I'm glad we were able to fit it in. Not to be missed!

Car: 10/10. Was impressed by comfort, quality, ride - all I had expected. It exceeded my wife's expectations: going into this, I think her attitude was that this was the pragmatic, if not exciting choice - but she really enjoyed the car too. ("It has some attitude"! ). She wants to name the car "snickarglädje", after the Swedish architectural style (some examples here and here...)

AutoMonkey

**jst4fun** · 04-08-2003, 01:14 PM

woohooo... can't wait to see my rub red '04 in July.

hope you have a great trip xcrubygal.

question to barry or automonkey or lowtide...

is there a "better" day to pick up your volvo?

I hear about busy days at the factory, etc.

I was planning to fly in sunday and pickup on monday, but thinking I might change that to arrive monday, sleep, then pick up on tuesday morning.

thought being that monday's might be extra busy and worth avoiding ?

On a different topic, while I love the ruby red color, I'm wondering if I should try contacting FDC and ask really really nicely to see if they would use the deep green XC70 color available in sweden.  It's not like they don't have the paint, it just isn't officially available for U.S. models.  

think that would piss them off, or is it worth a try ?

take care all.
-Don

**Low Tide** · 04-08-2003, 01:26 PM

Hey there Don-

I did a Monday pickup. It was busy, but they do not schedule too many and the team will handle the group without any problems. Have Alexandra schedule you for the 8am delivery slot. That way, even with delays you will have your car before lunch at 11am and the tour at 1pm. By the time you get back from the tour and get ready to leave, it will be about 3:30.

As for the color. There is a dark green color available on the XC90, I saw a couple in the staging area outside the body shop. I do not know what the color was called for the 04's- but it appeared very similar to the Cypress Green Metallic for the 03's. Perhaps it is available for the XC70? Never saw one of those though...

Oh, and one more thing a hint of sorts for those who will not eat dead cow- there are options besides the Meatballs- just ask....

**AutoMonkey** · 04-08-2003, 04:39 PM

I second Low Tide's advice to schedule an early appointment. We picked up on a Friday and left the hotel at 7:45am to be at the FDC for ~8:00am. This was a bit painful after flying in the day before, but you're still going to have some jetlag even if you pick up in the afternoon...  

IN our case, they had so many people on that Friday that they scheduled an extra factory tour in the morning - so we  were able to take delivery, take the tour, eat the famous Swedish Meatballs and still be on the road at about 1:30pm.

(I don't know how often they do double duty on the factory tour - anyone else experience this?)

AutoMonkey

**barrysharp** · 04-08-2003, 04:52 PM

The day I picked up my car at FDC (a Friday) there were a ton of people scheduled (I think is was around 19) and they only conducted one factory tour scheduled for 1pm. Lunch was scheduled for 11:30am and FDC staff said to to back at the FDC counter by 12:30pm in order to transport people to the factory tour start point.

I found I was back at FDC after the tour at around 3:30pm -- still plenty of daylight time to drive 100 miles north into Sweden.

Sooo, don't bank on there being TWO factory tours even on a busy day.